”Can you see them, reveling in the darkness, knee deep in blasphemy?” The hag whispered into Lady Helia’s ear when she finally found the necromancers, both of whom appeared to be drenched in blood and didn’t seem to mind it. The rat-like creatures gathered around them in awe and even the thorns made room for their movements, as if the creatures of the dark respected them immensely.
The inquisitor and the adventurer appeared to be engaged in a fierce argument over something before they spotted the Ouan approaching them.
“Can you tell this fuckwad to not be a gigantic, earth shattering pain in the ass for every second of his life?” Anastacia asked from her and pointed at the inquisitor.
Now that Lady Helia could see the adventurer properly, her appearance was nothing like the Ouan diplomat had assumed based on the vague glimpses she had seen of her in the light of her lantern. Two antlers sprouted from the adventurer’s head and tied to them with twine and wire were the bones of two severed hands with some rotting pieces of tendon still hanging from them. Anastacia’s complexion appeared ashy grey and the three blood red lines drawn crudely downwards from her eyes and nose appeared still to be dripping wet. Her hands were drenched in blood up to the elbows and the violet cloak on her was similarly sodden, leaving a trail of blood drops on the floor as she moved.
“The murders are solved, justice should be served!” Argued the inquisitor to the best of his cursed abilities, carefully thinking about his words before every sentence.
Teal’s looks hadn’t gone through as much change, but the ash-like complexion both of them shared was still a surprise to the Ouan, as was the lack of pupils in his blood-red eyes.
Anastacia was the first to notice the confusion in Lady Helia’s usually emotionless face. “Is something wrong? Why aren’t you trying to blind me with a lantern right now?” She asked worriedly.
“Adventurer Anastacia, could it be that you are a vile necromancer?” Helia asked bluntly.
The adventurer’s eyes widened and she glanced at Teal, who seemed just as surprised. The reaction alone was enough to answer the question, and the Ouan diplomat didn’t wait for a verbal one, instead, she promptly turned around and marched to her room, ignoring the calls from the necromancers behind her.
She closed the door behind herself and made sure it was locked before sitting down in front of her beloved divine tome, that luckily appeared untarnished by the shadows.
“Well? You have your answer, get out while you still can.” The hag suggested mockingly. “Second by second, you move towards a certain death, unless you escape now!”
Lady Helia opened her book from page one and began reading through it at a far slower pace than before, making sure she understood the meaning behind every single word and phrase, repeating them out loud if needed. “To escape is futile, for we have already fallen.” She muttered and flipped a page. “The only way out is to claw our way back into the light.”
In her head, Helia had convinced that she had become corrupted and devoid of light, but what she didn’t know was if it was caused by their ancient tormentor or her less than pious intentions regarding the inquisitor. Such a thing hadn’t even crossed her mind ever before, nor did she even know that it was possible in the first place; but at the same time, as far as she knew, no one worth mentioning had ever been in her situation.
Her only hope was to find even a slightly similar example from The Divine Word and act accordingly to regain her purity as an Ouan and an archfurion of their empire.
“You still latch on to your feeble gods even now? What good have they done for you here? I swear, I will never understand people like you.” The hag spoke, and with her words, the corruption spilled from under the room’s door and the thorns quickly took over the floor, climbing up on the furniture and coiling around anything they could, blindly trying to squeeze the life out of them. “Must I snuff the lights from the sky to have you give up?”
Ignoring the spirit, Lady Helia kept frantically looking for anything that might be helpful. Nothing seemed particularly useable, that is, until she came across the chants of the champions, which were essentially short stories about Ouans of the past, whom had since been declared champions and saints. These stories could sometimes be recreated as rituals to usher forth blessings and boons, when the gods deemed it to be righteous, of course.
One chant in particular, called Iupita’s rebirth, seemed both somewhat applicable and at least possible to execute with what they had:
“Learned Iupita. Horrors of the mind, gathered from book, parchment and tome. Light obstructed, tainted by shadows studied. Reasoned Iupita. Shadow, born from light, grown strong in the brightness, but enfeebled in dark. Carapace cracked by a child of dark, shadow rendered weak, purged by light, its carrier reborn. So learned Iupita.”
The name Iupita did ring some bells in Lady Helia’s memory, so she must have at least heard of them before, but couldn’t put a finger on the context. Regardless, the chant most definitely spoke about ridding oneself of shadows and didn’t seem to require much to be completed. As far as she could tell, all she needed was to find a child of dark, which more or less covered every single person in the lodge in the Ouan’s eyes, and simply have them create a crack in her chitinous skin so that she could be ‘reborn’.
Most sensible people would have probably at least voiced some concerns over such plans, but when it came to the gods, Lady Helia was in no way sensible. She would act according to their word without a moment’s hesitation or doubt, as If anything, hesitation would eat into the effectiveness of the ritual or even render it completely useless.
She closed her precious book, locked it with the gilded latch mechanism built into the cover and took it along with her as she couldn’t bear the idea of leaving it to be consumed by the quickly spreading corruption her eyes had been opened to.
Carefully stepping in between the thorny vines, the Ouan escaped her room just as the curtains over her shattered window tuned into flesh and the carpet under her feet into a patchwork of thick pieces of skin.
“Whatever you are doing, is beyond futile.” The hag reminded her. “Like your surroundings, so is your soul being consumed by the things that lurk in the shadows. You could have stopped this if you had heeded my warnings, but being stubborn beyond belief is a character flaw you pious people tend to share – obnoxious really.”
As the hag spoke, the gore and thorns joined into a larger lump down the hallway, inconveniently in the direction Lady Helia was running into so she could get to the necromancers, who were probably the best candidates for aiding in the ritual. The mass slowly took shape into a familiar form: a wolf of thorns that had blighted her from the beginning of the meeting. While its hind legs were still being formed, the beast let out a howl that could have sent chills down the spine of the most seasoned adventurers out there.
“So it falls on us to put down this sickly beast?” The Ouan asked rhetorically, tightly grasped her book against his chest with one hand and dug the claws on her feet deep into the uncomfortably mushy flesh-carpet.
The beast launched towards her at a speed Helia hadn’t quite expected, and instead of trying to slash at it with her razor-sharp claws, she had to at least try and dodge the charge, and ‘try’ turned out to be the right word to use, as when the massive canine of corruption launched her several meters back.
The thorny mane of the beast scratched her side, but luckily the Ouan’s hard shell of a skin wasn’t easily punctured by them, and the spikes only tore up a part of her uniform.
Only through an accidental reflex on her part, Helia managed to jab her claws into the beast’s face as she was tossed aside, this left three deep cuts that ran all the way along its muzzle. However, instead of hindering the beast, the marks only served to remind the hunter of the conditions of the battle; as they quickly closed before even getting the chance to bleed properly. The Ouan remembered that, presumably, the beasts could only be harmed by the methods the original hunters had used to kill them.
Unfortunately, standing between her and the ruined carvings was a horse-sized beast made from darkness itself, which really complicated things for her even without the steadily progressing corruption of her soul and being. Not to mention that one of the only two people she knew had some idea of what to do had apparently been erased from existence, and the other one may have been a being of darkness that supposedly plotted her demise – if one was to believe the questionable sources the claim came from. Regardless, necromancer or not, finding Anastacia was the safest bet – though she didn’t appear to be in the hallway anymore either.
Swatting away few of the small creatures that had swarmed around her when she had fallen down after being hit, Lady Helia jumped up and sprinted towards the staircase to the kitchen as fast as she could, but was forced to stop only a few steps later, as a second lump of thorns, bone and flesh formed in front of the stairs and once more took the shape of a wolf before she had any chance to slip past it.
Now surrounded, she racked her brain for options. Fighting even one of the wolves at once seemed a bit risky in such a relatively narrow space and taking on both was absolutely out of the question.
The small rat-things had clearly begun to think that her demise was approaching quickly too, as they flocked her surroundings, eager to fight over whatever bits the wolves wouldn’t eat. Couple of the braver ones came a bit too close and Lady Helia had to kick them away.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
It was then that the Ouan found a way out of her predicament. “Feeble wooden floors. Could it be that the room below proves less hostile?” She mumbled and gagged a couple of times before spewing a pool of faintly glowing green liquid on the floor, almost directly at her own feet.
The vomit began rapidly eating through the thick floorboards, first turning them into black, charred mess and then liquifying what was left, but it would still take more than a couple of seconds for it to get through.
The wolves slowly approached her from both sides, so the Ouan took out the enchanted knife she had taken from Anastacia and prepared to jab it into the throat of whichever wolf lunged at her first.
The beasts appeared so certain that they had their prey trapped, that they no longer were in any hurry to finish her. Instead they slowly inched their way towards the Ouan, pacing left to right in the roomy corridor while their wide grins dripped a trail of toxic drool along their path.
“Truly, the world has slumbered in the dark for far too long for such things to spawn from its murkier chasms.” Lady Helia lamented and looked down upon the beasts, disgusted beyond description. “Hear me, foul beasts! Once we regain our light, you will be the first to find enlightenment. Your wretched forms will no longer scar the world with their presence.”
The taunt clearly translated well to whatever ancient tongue the beast was familiar with, as both of its copies snarled briefly before lunging forwards to begin their charge.
Barely in time, the first hole appeared in the quickly eroding floor, and the Ouan knew its surroundings were likely only barely supporting themselves. She hopped on the weakened part and crashed through the floorboards with minimal resistance, only avoiding the charging wolves by a fraction of a second. As she fell, she caught a glimpse of the beasts colliding and melding together into a larger lump of disgusting matter that didn’t appear to be neither flesh nor plant, but rather something in between. It fell on top of the hole created by the acidic vomit and plugged it before starting to ooze through in the form of quickly spreading thorns.
The storeroom Lady Helia had fallen into was only briefly lit by the light shining through the hole she had made, but the horrors it revealed were no lesser than in the floor above. However, she had no time to focus on the extremely discomforting squishiness of whatever she had landed on, as the vines were already reaching outwards from the hole to block her only exit; a door visible only because of the faint light shining through the gaps around it. She crashed through it and slammed it shut again, hoping it’d at least slow down the creeping creatures of the dark – which it appeared to do, based on the loud thumping they made while trying to get through.
Recognizing her location only through the vague picture of the lodge’s layout she had in her head, and the vast amount of cooking equipment stored on shelves around her, the Ouan continued onwards through the next door and found herself in the lodge’s esteemed kitchen.
The amount of strange insects crawling around the cookery was absolutely repulsive even to the diplomat who shared more than a few insectoid features with them, and as they feasted on the assorted pieces of festering meat and organs thrown about the room, Lady Helia began to seriously consider simply setting the whole building on fire, even if it was just to quell the lesser horrors in it.
After losing few of the precious seconds she had on her pursuer to sheer shock, Lady Helia dashed through the door she knew to lead to a corridor that would give her access to the great hall. The cool breeze that still carried the repugnant smell of rot and decay washed over her as she exited the corridor, but the scent robbed it of having any of the reinvigorating effect a fresh one would have had.
The hall itself was in no better condition than the rest of the lodge – if anything, it was worse, far, far worse. Corpses of animals and people littered the floor, creating a knee deep layer of bloated carrions that were gorged on by the small rat-like critters as well as some slightly larger beasts of dark that bared a very faint resemblance to hairless hunched simians that were drenched in blood and covered in wounds of their own, evidently caused by the smaller beasts gnawing on them whenever they stood still for too long.
The Ouan could physically feel the sight itself worsen the corruption within herself and the dark splotch on her chest increased in size at a rapid pace. Whenever she closed her eyes to avoid having to stare at the scenery surrounding her, the usual sea of light she used to see was quickly dimming, and soon only a few points of pure, unhindered light were shining in the distance though even those had begun to flicker and die out.
“There are very few things more corrupting than seeing the world for what it truly is. This violent, unjust, lawless, cruel and above all else, existence devoid of light is commonplace for everyone but delusional people like you.” The hag suddenly spoke up again. “I am so very glad that I was the one who could show it to you, and I eagerly await to see if the futileness of your efforts gets to you, or if you continue to fight it, despite knowing that once the light in you has been put out, there is no redemption to be found in it, and you will join your new friends in the shadows. That is, unless you are willing to bargain?”
“We reject you and your offer, in this life and what lies past it.” Lady Helia said proudly and without hesitation.
“Still difficult I see… Well, just so you know, kill either of your necromancer companions and I will let you back to your silly gods, or kill yourself, and I will see to it that you will join the light you hold so dear in death and as an added enticement, I will allow escape for the necromancers.” The spirit of discord laughed. “Consider it.”
Having tossed her ruined guild uniform, Anastacia was once more clad in her usual gear, complete with her crown and cloak. She had caught Teal using his curse to harm Lumira, and as crossing swords over it before Lady Helia had first interrupted them and derailed the conversation by correctly accusing the adventurer of being a necromancer out of the blue.
“You’re a fucking necromancer!?” Lumira yelled from her room as the Ouan dashed away to deal with the beast allotted to her.
Anastacia shoved Teal into the vice commander’s room, followed after him and firmly shut the door behind her. “Shhh… Not everyone needs to know.” She whispered.
“I can’t believe the guild would send a necromancer here when they knew Mournvalley was a part of the negotiations!” The dark elf exclaimed, clearly baffled by the realization. “Actually, how does the guild even have a necromancer? Are you a spy or something?”
“YOU LITERALLY MURDER PEOPLE TO FUCK THIS ENTIRE THING UP! How are you so upset about this!?” The adventurer yelled back.
“Not a spy, far from it. Actually hates with passion… Harsh, really…” Teal commented and shook his head sadly.
Anastacia picked up a book from the floor and threw it at the inquisitor. “You, shut the fuck up! But yes, if I had to pick a side, I’m more inclined to go with the religious nutjobs. I was brought here because the guild knew I can whoop Mournvalley’s representative’s ass if need be.” She explained. “And I still might, because he keeps being an asshole!”
“Regret nothing, would do again, still might in all honesty.” The inquisitor stated and pointed his sword towards Lumira, or at least tried to, before being launched out of the window by Anastacia – much like she herself had been earlier.
The adventurer laughed as she watched Teal pop up from the snow and try to make a path for himself by swinging his swords. However, when it proved far more effective than her techniques, she quickly grew bored of it and turned back the Lumira.
“We should go get him and find Helia.” The adventurer said and gestured for the dark elf to follow.
Lumira seemed confused. “I’m coming along?” She asked and grasped the projector tightly.
“Regardless of what you think of me being a necromancer, I’m probably the only person here who would rather have you alive – because it looks good in the report, not because I condone any of your horseshit. So really, there’s no safer place for you than with me for now.” Anastacia shrugged and left the room with the dark elf meekly following her, still clutching onto the projector.
Ever since Lady Helia had ran off, Anastacia had kept track of her and was well aware of the hurry the diplomat appeared to be in. When the Ouan rushed into the great hall, she figured that they could pick her up while waiting for Teal to make his way to the front door.
As Anastacia and Lumira arrived downstairs, they found Lady Helia frantically looking around and clearly immensely disgusted by everything she saw. Yet nothing appeared off to the adventurer straight away, that is, besides the closed lantern hanging from the Ouan’s belt.
Anastacia whistled to get Lady Helia’s attention. “Why aren’t you using the lantern I gave you?” She asked.
Like snapping out of a terrible nightmare, Lady Helia flinched and turned to the pair by the staircase. She rushed over, avoiding and stepping over something neither Anastacia or Lumira could see and every now and then worriedly glancing back at the corridor she came to the hall from.
“Ah! Necromancer adventurer Anastacia, just the degenerate being of dark we wished to find. Could you please stab us?” She asked and offered Anastacia her enchanted knife back.
Anastacia took a step back and squinted. “Excuse me?”
“Stab us, it is vital for the ritual.” Insisted Lady Helia.
Extremely suspicious of the Ouan’s willingness to get stabbed, Anastacia glanced at the vice commander behind her to make sure both of them heard the same thing. “Is this some hag bullshit that’s going on? I’m not sure I follow.” She theorized since Helia was already acting extremely weirdly.
“Please, I implore you, a child of dark must crack our shell so that we can be reborn and cleansed of this corruption, The Word says so.” Explained Lady Helia and showed Anastacia her holy book. She opened the page she had found the chant from and displayed it to the necromancer, who warily stepped closer to read it.
The text on the page so tiny that it was barely readable in the first place, and the letters appeared to be some kind of variation from the ones Anastacia knew, as if the entire book was written in some dialect that mostly followed the common language of the north, but not entirely.
Because of the extra effort required to read in the dimly lit hall, the adventurer failed to notice that Lumira was quietly fiddling with the settings on the astral projector she carried and covertly turned the small knob next to them to activate it.
Suddenly a bright flash behind Lady Helia briefly lit the hall, and with it, a faintly glowing greenish apparition of the dark elf appeared. In a blink of an eye, Lumira’s projection reached past the Ouan, grabbed the knife from her hand and jabbed it into the diplomat’s chest.
With a loud thump, the weighty holy book hit the wooden floor after it slipped from its owner’s shaking hands, and with a second thump, said owner’s body fell limply on top of it.
As the last signs of life faded from the Ouan’s corpse, the apparition disappeared into a second blinding flash caused by the projector shattering when it fell on the floor.
Lumira found herself no longer in control of her own movements, instead it was as if some outside force tensed her muscles and locked her joints entirely. She had been taken control of a few times during the day, and now knew that it was in fact a necromancer using their power on her. However, something was different this time. On top of the overwhelming force that held her completely still, there was a second one, doing what it could to work against it. If anything, it felt like the stronger of the forces was keeping out the second one. Though she couldn’t turn her head or eyes, Lumira recognized the sound of two swords dragging along the wooden floor, carving deep grooves in it. Accompanying them was the sound of the most chilling steps she had heard in life, just form them she could feel the killing intent and the complete lack of remorse.
“Step out of my way.” The murderously furious inquisitor demanded and pointed his sword at Lumira, completely ignoring the wound that appeared on his shin.
Anastacia took a couple of steps to be directly in between him and the vice commander. “Not going to happen, fucko. That’s not how I handle things. I will say this once: put away your weapons, calm your mind and we’ll discuss about what Helia was going on about before this. Remember what we’re up against here.” She said as calmly as she could, despite being a single good argument away from snapping the dark elf’s spine for further screwing up her quest herself.